Passing Fancy
by firefly
Summary: When an experimental surgery to curb Mileena's homicidal tendencies goes awry, Shang Tsung and Kitana are left to deal with her sudden infatuation with a certain Netherrealm spectre. Mileena. Scorpion. Crackfic.
1. Chapter 1

Passing Fancy

By: firefly

Note: My first and probably last Mortal Kombat fic, written because I was inspired by the Scorpion and Mileena "I Hate Teddies" level from the challenge tower in MK9. Timeline wise, probably takes place between MK3 and MK4, but all in all I have no idea because Mortal Kombat canon confuses the hell out of me. (And yes I know, Scorpion doesn't have his swords during that time, but he's a major bamf with his MK9 render so I included them here.)

This fic is pure crack and will be split into two chapters, so expect the next one soon. Enjoy, and reviews are love!

Passing Fancy ch.1

Shao Kahn stroked his chin and hummed thoughtfully to himself.

His throne had become his thinking chair for the time being and he sat in a deep, meditative stupor, his fingers drumming against his knee. Across from him, Shang Tsung stood attentively, trying not to squirm.

"I have an issue," the emperor finally said.

Shang Tsung managed a smile. "Yes?"

He had every right to be fearful. With plans to invade Earthrealm in the near future, the emperor was under a fair amount of stress and it had become a common occurrence for him to relieve tension by decapitating a sentry or two. Shang Tsung spared a surreptitious glance at the window, preparing to dive out of it if he had to.

"As you probably know," Shao Kahn continued, "between gathering Outworld's forces and negotiating with the Shokan, I'm a little pressed for time."

"Yes, emperor."

"And do you know what I like during such stressful times?"

Shang Tsung swallowed. "What, my lord?"

"Food," he said bluntly. "And lots of it. Now ask me what my problem is."

Somewhat reassured that he had nothing to do with this, Shang Tsung straightened and put on a concerned expression. "What is the problem?"

Shao Kahn's eyes narrowed. "This."

He reached behind his chair and tossed something at the sorcerer's feet. Shang Tsung grimaced as blood splattered his new robes and the disembowelled body of Shao Kahn's favourite chef rolled over his feet.

Toeing the corpse away from him, he looked questioningly at the emperor as the man released a long-suffering sigh and rubbed his temples.

"The problem, sorcerer, is Mileena."

Shit, Shang Tsung thought grimly. So this did involve him, after all.

"Forgive me for my impudence, but I thought her homicidal tendencies were something you preferred?"

"Yes, of course," Shao Kahn said in exasperation. "But not when it involves my personal chefs. She's gotten more out of control than ever. She attacks without provocation and is moody all the time. It's getting difficult to organize talks with the Shokan when my daughter keeps decapitating their couriers."

Shang Tsung stroked his beard. "I can see why that might be a problem."

"Fix her," Shao Kahn ordered. "A little self-restraint won't hurt. And do something about those damn mood swings of hers." He grudgingly rubbed a telltale bite mark on his left hand.

"Yes, my lord," Shang Tsung said with caution. "But as you know, her mind is still juvenile and her Tarkata physiology makes it difficult to—"

"I don't care. Figure something out."

Shao Kahn glanced at his wall calendar. "I have a meeting with Scorpion in three days. It's important that I get him to ally with us, so Mileena cannot jeopardize this. Consider that your deadline."

Shang Tsung bowed. "As you wish."

* * *

Mileena scowled around at her surroundings, aiming a powerful glare in Shang Tsung's direction as he prepped his surgery tools next to her. She was secured to an operating table, arms and legs bound by thick chains, and the corpse dangling overhead kept dripping blood onto her forehead. Oh, how she hated the goddamn Flesh Pits.

"When this is over," she hissed, "I'm going to rip out your tongue and eat it."

"I'm sure you will," Shang Tsung said dismissively.

"Why are you doing this?" she demanded, struggling against her bonds again.

"Your father is fed up with your bad behaviour. As for me..." the sorcerer picked up a rusty, medieval-looking tool and waved his hand at it. The blade began glowing an unholy green. "I'm going to go poking around your pituitary gland."

"But why?" she said, growing fearful as he began lowering the blade to her head. "What are you going to do?"

"Don't worry," he said, his voice growing distant as he waved his glowing hand over her face. "It's just a procedure to help hasten your pass from the horrors of childhood into the wonderful world of young adulthood."

"What the hell are you blathering about, sorcerer?"

"I'm going to remove a piece of your brain and hope for the best. Now shut up."

She was out before she had the chance to reply.

When she came to, it felt as though she'd spent the last twenty-four hours ramming her head repeatedly into the wall. A tentative move of her arms found her bonds undone, and after falling off the surgical table and vomiting a few times, Mileena managed to climb to her feet and stood, swaying.

Funny, she thought to herself. Besides a particularly vicious urge to murder Shang Tsung, she didn't feel all that different.

Shaking her head and moaning at the pain it caused, she gripped her temple and staggered out of the Flesh Pits.

Disoriented and blinded by the mother of all migraines, she felt her way through the hallways, somehow stumbling upon her father's throne room.

"Ah, there she is," the bastard sorcerer said, his voice ramming into her skull like a sledgehammer. "How are you feeling, Mileena?"

She gurgled something incomprehensible and staggered towards him, arms outstretched to wring his wormy little neck. Fortunately for him, her stomach chose to turn on her again and sent a projectile stream of vomit splattering onto his shoes.

Shang Tsung recoiled in disgust and Shao Kahn nodded thoughtfully to himself. "Seems like an improvement so far. For a moment there it seemed like she wanted to throttle you."

"Yes," Shang Tsung muttered, staring at his ruined shoes. "What a wonderful turn of events."

Shao Kahn stroked his chin. "My meeting with Scorpion will be a good test to see if your treatment has worked." He turned to his daughter. "Why don't you go rest, Mileena? I will summon you in two days' time."

Annoyed but somewhat vindicated by throwing up on Shang Tsung, Mileena nodded slightly in assent. She spat once more at the sorcerer's feet before hobbling off to her room.

* * *

_Two days later._

The servants fell over each other trying to escape the second floor when Mileena finally emerged from her room. The pain of her recovery had driven her more insane than usual and several of the maids had lost their heads when they'd tried delivering her food.

She was feeling considerably better now, though, and decided to go have a bath to scrub the post-surgery blood from her hair.

There was no tenderness in her scalp when she washed it, not even when she'd poured soap onto it. Hesitant to believe the damage had healed so fast, she went to check in the mirror, only to have it shatter in her face.

Growling in irritation, she replaced her veil and found a different mirror. To her surprise, her scalp and forehead were completely unmarred, giving no hint of recent brain surgery.

She had to hand it to him, Mileena admitted grudgingly. The sorcerer knew his stuff.

"But still," she huffed while getting dressed. "I don't feel any different...maybe I should tell father he planted traitorous thoughts in my head...ha ha, the lynching would be _glorious_."

She was still giggling to herself and imagining Shang Tsung's grisly execution when she skipped down the stairs and strolled into her father's throne room.

The meeting was already underway. The regular Outworld grunts trying to curry her father's favour were in attendance, along with Kitana and Shang Tsung. She squinted when she noticed one more person standing in the middle of the room, his back turned to her.

He looked vaguely familiar, as if she'd seen him in passing some time before.

Curious, she stepped further into the room, cocking her head at him.

Besides the impressive armour and the two swords strapped to his back, there was something else in his demeanour that set him apart from the rest. His stance was confident, almost defiant where everyone else stood cowering before her father, and his arms were tense by his sides as if he was just waiting for an opportunity to ram someone's nose into their brain.

Mileena took another step closer, transfixed.

She felt strange and tingly. There was an unfamiliar sensation in her chest, almost as though her heart was doing somersaults. It worsened the more she stared at him, but at the same time she found herself powerless to look away.

Before she could figure out what the hell was wrong with her, one of the guards entered the room to deliver a message. It was then he finally turned around.

The room seemed to dim around him in that moment, her breath catching in her throat at the dazzling, slow-motion turn of his head. The candlelight gleamed over his armour, highlighting every dip and curve of his powerful arms, illuminating those glowing hell spawn eyes as they looked in her direction. An effervescent rain of pure life force flew off his muscular frame, catching the light and making him look absolutely godly.

At second glance, she would've realized it was only raining outside and he'd just come inside, but it was far too late for rational thinking.

She stared, enraptured by this specimen of utter perfection standing across the room. When their eyes finally met, Mileena felt her stomach drop and knees go weak.

Scorpion sort of just glared at her before turning his attention to the sentry behind him.

The debriefing may have lasted five seconds or five hours, she had no idea. All Mileena could think and register in those whirlwind minutes were three words:

_Must. Have. Him._

_Him. Must. Have._

_Have. Him. Must._

Perhaps possessing normal mental faculties would have made clear that what she was experiencing was a vicious onslaught of hormonal infatuation, but the Tarkata in her destroyed the possibility of such sophistic interpretations.

The sentry left and Scorpion turned back to face her father. She was suddenly overcome with the desire to touch him, unsure whether it was out of wanting to eat or kill or maim him. It didn't really matter, though, because she completely lost herself to the urge and started sprinting across the room.

It was so sudden that neither Kitana, Shao Kahn, Shang Tsung nor Scorpion saw it coming. It was only when she lunged onto him from behind and ensnared him with her arms and legs did he manage to react, and as well as any other man confronted with the sensation of a half-naked woman jumping onto his back.

He put her through a table.

Namely, Shao Kahn's dining table, flipping her over his head and slamming her back-first through the wood. The table snapped clean in half, filling the room with the din of shattering dinnerware and splintering wood as she was buried by yards of table cloth and food.

Kitana stared in shock. Shao Kahn, looking slightly annoyed, glared over at Shang Tsung.

The sorcerer bit the inside of his mouth. "I'm working on it, emperor."

* * *

After the visitors had departed and Mileena had dressed the wounds she'd sustained from being thrown through the table, she lay in bed thinking.

It was probably a good thing, she concluded, that they'd blamed her assault on Scorpion on yet another one of her fits. At least that way it gave her time to figure out just what had come over her.

It was perplexing beyond belief, especially since she now realized she'd seen him several times before. He was known as Scorpion, a warrior of the extinct Shirai Ryu clan. And from what she'd gathered, he'd escaped the Netherrealm as a wraith and was now allying himself with her father.

That was as far as she could get in her thinking before that weird flippy sensation in her chest came back and she melted into a puddle of goo. Oddly enough, she was starting to find that she liked it.

Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath and released it in a slow, dreamy sigh.

She'd gotten a heady dose of his smell in that too-short moment where she'd clung to him and it had left her punch drunk ever since. He smelled like a village freshly burned to the ground, with notes of choking ash and heated stone—an appropriate combination considering how intensely warm he'd felt against her.

Another sigh escaped her and she wrapped her arms around herself.

She didn't want to eat him; that much she'd figured out. She didn't really feel like killing or maiming him, either. As far as she could tell, this was just an uncontrollable desire to see and be near him, and the thought of doing both was making her incredibly giddy.

"Huh, so much for thinking about it," she snorted, rolling out of bed and stretching her limbs.

When it boiled down to it, the simple and straightforward method suited Mileena best.

She decided she was going to stalk him.

* * *

Scorpion left Shao Kahn's palace in a meditative mood.

Save for the unexpected assault from the emperor's crazed daughter near the end, the meeting had gone smoothly enough.

Shao Kahn had offered him a spot in his army, a request he would've denied if his answer didn't entail him getting booted back into the Netherrealm.

But the offer was tempting enough, he contemplated, trudging through the woods. So long as he served the emperor, he'd be able to stay on Earth.

And since nobody was crazy enough to ask Scorpion what he did in his downtime, he was pretty much left alone after his business with Shao Kahn to think over his decision. Between the time he spent being in hell, training, and recuperating, he reserved the little free time he had for intensive brooding, usually somewhere far away and isolated.

This time he came upon the razed remains of a temple. The dismal state of it and bleak atmosphere made it a prime spot for thinking about his next move. Just as he was about to settle down, he remembered that there was a small, pesky problem that needed taking care of, first.

Annoyed, he paused by one of the temple's remaining support structures and waited.

Several meters away, Mileena stealthily crept after him. The rain had softened the earth underfoot, rendering her steps soundless as she followed him out into the woods. She watched him fixedly, taken with his purposeful strides and the way he simply burned through the foliage that stood in his way.

She was half-afraid her pounding heart would give her away, but he continued through his path in the forest until he came upon a decimated temple. She tip-toed behind one of the burned out posts a few yards away, leaning her back against it.

When she felt it was safe to look, she turned slightly and peeked around the edge.

There was nobody there.

She cursed, about to double back when she heard the air implode behind her. Gasping, she tried to jump out of range, only to freeze in place when a shadow fell over her and the point of Scorpion's sword dug into her throat.

Looking up at him, she shrugged her shoulders and managed a cheeky laugh. "You caught me."

The look on his face would've made any lesser warrior wet their pants.

"What do you want?"

His voice was throaty, grating and rough. It thrilled her to the core.

Mileena took a moment to assess the situation, somewhat overwhelmed by having him so close to her. Using the extremely limited amount of leeway her position granted her, she arranged herself into something more relaxed and inviting.

"I didn't get a chance to introduce myself back there," she said coyly. "I'm Mileena."

He didn't lower the sword.

"I know who you are."

Her heart leapt in her chest. "You...you do?"

He glared. "You attacked me."

"Oh, that!" she broke into a maniacal fit of giggles. "I wasn't _attacking_ you..."

She looked up at him through her lashes and raised a finger, suggestively running it down the length of the blade. "I was just saying hello."

To her surprise, he dropped the sword, only to replace it with his hand when his fingers closed around her throat.

In hindsight, being hoisted two feet off the ground and having a flaming hand pointed at her face probably meant it was time to cut her losses and move on. But that was hindsight and right now she was too busy ogling that ridiculously amazing physique from her vantage point.

"I'll spare you this time, if only to honour my allegiance with Shao Kahn," Scorpion warned, completely oblivious. "Follow me again and I'll send you to the Netherrealm."

"Will you be there, too?" Mileena croaked.

He dropped her unceremoniously to the ground and left without deigning her with a response.

* * *

Mileena returned home confused and frustrated. Normally it didn't take much more than a suggestive look and a sultry voice to have men falling at her feet, but for the first time, her advances had been rejected.

But then again, those men were two-bit losers spawned in Outworld. This would take more than just her usual efforts. She realized she needed to present him with some sort of token to win his affection.

Tarkatans presented each other with the heads of their enemies to find mates, but Scorpion had originally been human and Earthrealm customs were completely alien to her. In the end, there was only one person she knew who could possibly have answers.

"You want to do what?" Shang Tsung said blankly.

Mileena glared at him. "I want to learn about Earthrealm courtship rituals."

The sorcerer regarded her silently for a few seconds. Previously, he'd assumed his experimental surgery had failed considering the way she'd assaulted Scorpion, but the strangeness of her sudden request was making him reconsider.

He tapped his chin. "Have you felt any..._different_ since the procedure?"

Mileena hesitated, quite sure she didn't want to divulge such personal feelings to a creepy old man like Shang Tsung.

"No," she snapped instead. "Just answer me."

"Hn," Shang Tsung muttered. He made a mental note to keep her under observation and directed her to the trove of Earthrealm materials in the palace's storage room. Centuries of tournaments had allowed the sorcerer to amass a sizable collection of human artefacts, originally intended for research experiments. Most of the items proved useless, however, and now lay dusty and forgotten.

Mileena squinted in the haze of dust and cobwebs when she opened the storage room door, finding the contents strewn around in disarray. She decided to start her search at the left side and work her way across the room, and she spent the next several hours combing through mundane items like books, shaving cream, toothbrushes, clothing, and gaming devices. By the end, she'd lost all patience and vented her frustration by kicking over a bookcase.

The furniture fell to the floor with a satisfying crash, spilling its contents everywhere. Huffing, Mileena turned to leave the room, only to stop midway when she stepped on something.

Feeling it crack underfoot, she knelt and picked up the object.

It was a shattered picture frame, containing a photograph of a little girl receiving some sort of toy from an adult outside the picture. The toy looked kind of like an animal, with two arms, two legs and buttons for eyes. Mileena growled in annoyance, about to toss the frame aside when something in the photo caught her attention.

Rather than the peculiar brown object in the little girl's hands, it was the child's expression of pure joy that held her gaze. She didn't have to think twice to realize the kid's happiness was coming from receiving that weird thing.

Suddenly feeling hopeful, she strode out of the room and back to the Flesh Pits.

Shang Tsung looked up from where he was dissecting a half-dead prisoner, blinking when Mileena thrust the picture under his nose.

"What is this thing she's holding?" she demanded.

The sorcerer pursed his lips, wondering what kind of damage he'd done to Mileena's already damaged brain.

"In Earthrealm, it's called a teddy bear."

"What does it do?"

"It doesn't do anything."

"Then why is she so happy?"

"Humans exchange these as gifts," Shang Tsung replied with superiority. "The trade of these tokens create alliances."

Mileena cocked her head at him. "Are they used for courtships?"

"But of course," he said, having no idea what he was talking about. "Much like Tarkatan traditions."

The sorcerer was slightly taken aback by the elated spark that lit up Mileena's eyes, but before he could ask, she'd already disappeared up the stairs.

When she reached her bedroom, Mileena smashed the remainder of the frame and carefully drew the photo from its confines.

In the light, she was pleased to see that the teddy bear was shown in crisp detail, giving her an idea of its texture and material. The stitching around its body revealed that it was made out of cloth and the way it contorted under the girl's grip meant it was stuffed with something soft.

Like the taxidermy bodies in father's trophy room, she concluded with glee.

The construction looked simple enough. All she needed now were the materials.

With that, she left the picture and stormed the tailor's quarters, ransacking his supplies and killing random passersby that got in her way.

Five minutes later, she burst back into her room and shut the door. Then she dumped the materials onto her bedspread and grinned down at the meter of brown flannel, thread, scissors, and buttons.

Ha. How hard could this be?

* * *

_Three weeks later._

"Kitana."

"Yes, father?"

"Would you happen to know why your sister hasn't been taking dinner for the last three weeks?"

Kitana lowered her knife and fork, meeting her father's questioning gaze. It was no secret that she made it a point to avoid her psychotic sister at all costs, but saying so in front of her father probably wasn't the best idea.

"I do not," Kitana replied, feigning confusion. "Is she unwell?"

Shao Kahn opened his mouth to reply, only to have his voice drowned out by a high-pitched scream of rage from the second floor. The scream was followed by the sounds of breaking furniture and muffled shrieks from the servants.

"She seems healthy enough," he continued after the noise faded. "But she's been spending an unusually long time in her room. I will consult Shang Tsung on the matter, but in the mean time, I want you to check up on her."

Kitana nearly spat out her food but managed to contain herself. Swallowing hard, she murmured "yes, father" before finishing her meal.

By the time she was done and made her way to the second floor, the furious screaming had faded and the hallway was silent. Just to be safe, she'd brought along her weapons as she cautiously approached her sister's bedroom door.

She stood outside it for several minutes, listening for any sounds from within. When no noise was forthcoming, she took a breath to steel herself and raised her hand to knock.

The door opened almost instantly, revealing a suspicious-looking Mileena peering up at her through the crack.

"What do you want?" she snapped.

Kitana dropped her arm and stood her ground, making it a point to show that she wasn't intimidated. At the same time, she tried glancing into the room to see what her sister had been up to, only to have Mileena step outside and close the door behind her.

"So nosy," she scolded mockingly, waving a finger in front of her face. "Nosy girls lose their noses."

"Father sent me to check on you," Kitana said, already tired of dealing with her crazy sister. "He asks why you haven't been eating."

Mileena snorted. "I've been busy."

"Doing what?"

"That's none of your business, princess."

Kitana resisted rolling her eyes and glanced down instead, only to still at the sight of Mileena's hands; her fingers were bloody and wrapped in strips of cloth.

"What happened there?" Kitana questioned as Mileena tried to hide her hands behind her back.

"You ask too many questions," she snarled. "Go away."

Giving up, Kitana stepped away from the door and started down the hall. "Fine. But be ready to come down tomorrow. Father is meeting with the Shokan prince and wants you in attendance."

"_Wait_!"

Kitana blinked and slowed to a stop, glancing over her shoulder.

Mileena's eyes were wide and—hopeful?

"Who else will be there?"

"I'm not certain," Kitana said. "Perhaps Baraka to represent the Tarkatans and Scorpion from the Netherrealm."

Kitana was taken aback when Mileena visibly reacted with a jerk upon hearing the two names. Before she could ask, her sister had seized her wrist and was dragging her into her room.

"What are you doing?" Kitana demanded, reaching for her fan. "Let go of me or—"

"Shut up!" Mileena hissed in a whisper, pulling her inside and slamming the door. "There's something I need to ask you."

That statement alone, along with the realization that she was seeing Mileena's room for the first time was enough to make her fall silent. Curious, she glanced around the quarters as the other girl cleared her bed for space and gathered what looked like sewing materials into a bag.

The room was devoid of personal touches, marred by dents and tears wherever she looked. The only thing remaining on the wall was the shattered remains of a mirror. Save for a wardrobe and bed, the room was empty.

Bewildered, Kitana took a seat on the edge of the bed, sliding farther away when Mileena threw herself on top of the mattress and pinned her with a hawkish look.

"Tell me everything you know about him."

Kitana raised an eyebrow. "Who?"

To her surprise, Mileena's sharp gaze took on an unfocused, dreamy look and she clasped her hands over her heart.

"The wraith from the Netherrealm."

Kitana stared at her, confounded. The fact that they were having the closest thing they'd ever had to a civilized conversation, along with Mileena's lovesick expression, made her wonder what the hell Shang Tsung had done to her brain.

"You mean Scorpion?" she asked. "Why?"

Mileena didn't answer and didn't have to. The way she curled into herself and sighed yearningly was answer enough.

Kitana's jaw dropped.

"You fancy _Scorpion_?" she said incredulously. "Are you mad?"

The latter question seemed entirely unnecessary. Mileena was too far gone to take notice, her huge mouth stretching into a wan smile beneath the veil.

"We're destined to be together," she declared, clutching a shredded pillow to her chest. "I'll have him soon enough."

"But why _him_?" Kitana said, aghast.

Mileena sneered. "Are you blind? Didn't you see how brutally he put me through the table? He's magnificent."

Kitana was at a loss for words as her sister continued a senseless string of accolades for the ninja. Despite their less than loving relationship, she couldn't help but feel a twinge of concern over how far Mileena was taking this obsession. Part of her felt compelled to steer the naive girl away from the path she was taking, because it didn't take a genius to realize that her feelings would forever remain unrequited.

Plus a heartbroken Mileena was not a prospect she ever wanted to entertain.

Kitana returned her attention to the other girl, trying to figure out how she'd go about dissuading her—hopefully without being attacked.

"And he has this incredible smell," Mileena prattled on. "He smells like...like..."

"A crematorium?" Kitana said flatly.

"Mmm, yes..."

Good God.

"Mileena," she started, choosing her words carefully. "Scorpion isn't the right person for you."

Mileena turned slit eyes in her direction, a dangerous look furrowing her brow. "Why not?"

"Because he's...well, dead."

"So? He walks and talks, doesn't he?"

"It's the principle of the matter. He's a spectre from the Netherrealm. A wraith. He's incapable of returning your affections."

"Hmph. Says you."

Kitana rubbed her forehead and tried a different approach.

"You ask me what I know, so I will tell you. He was once a married man."

Mileena gasped sharply and sat up. "He was?"

Kitana held her breath, about to congratulate herself on what looked like a breakthrough, only to deflate when Mileena broke into hyena-like cackles of glee.

"That means his wife is _dead_! How fantastic!"

Kitana looked at her helplessly, trying to think of other reasons to convince her, but Mileena was suddenly clambering off the bed and reaching for the bag she'd stuffed in the wardrobe. There was no stopping her now; the look in her eyes meant she was on a volatile streak of manic energy. Anyone who got in her way was asking for disembowelment.

She watched, apprehensive, as Mileena dug through the bag's contents and gingerly withdrew a strange object.

"After I give him this," Mileena said triumphantly, "he's all mine."

"What is it?" Kitana wondered, cocking her head at the strange looking object. It looked like a small brown animal.

"Ha. Foolish sister. _This_ is called a teddy bear. In Earthrealm, humans exchange it in courtship." She looked it over in elation. "It's almost finished!"

Kitana was astounded. "You mean you made this?"

Mileena didn't answer, too busy with cutting away a few stray threads that hung from the bear's limbs. Kitana caught sight of her bandaged fingers again and suddenly understood.

Amazing as it was to see that Shang Tsung's surgery had been a success, it was even more so to see her normally destructive sister create something with her own two hands. And with so much care and dedication...

Kitana lowered her eyes, disconcerted by the sudden well of pity rising inside of her. The emotion was fleeting, though, because Mileena flopped down onto her back and clutched the bear to her chest.

"I will give him this fluffy creature and he will take me as his bride." She turned the bear around so it was facing her and moved its arms about, her voice singsong. "Then we'll slay all those who stand in our way! Isn't that right, teddy bear?"

The Edenian princess watched resignedly, the verve slipping out of her. This could not end well.

Mileena embraced the bear once more and sighed, blissfully closing her eyes.

"Mmm, the things I'm going to do to him..."

Kitana could only stare at her, suddenly sorry for Scorpion and frightened by the thought of what X-rated fantasies were going through her sister's mind.

* * *

Somewhere on a remote cliff thirty miles away, Scorpion was jarred from his meditation by the unsettling sensation of a shiver running down his spine.


	2. Chapter 2

Passing Fancy

By: firefly

Note: Wow, thanks so much to everyone for their reviews! As it turns out, I'm usually wrong when I give estimates of how long my fics will be, so this one will cap off (I think) at three chapters. It was just too much fun torturing Scorpion to end it at just two. :)

Anyhow, here's chapter 2. Enjoy, and remember that reviews are always love!

Passing Fancy ch.2

The next morning, Shang Tsung found himself interrupted in the middle of breakfast when he heard the door slam open. He raised his head, stopping in mid-chew at the sight of a stern-looking Kitana standing at the head of the table.

Wondering what he'd done this time, he swallowed and gave her an oily smile.

"How can I be of service, princess?"

Her hardened expression didn't change.

"What did you do to Mileena?"

He blinked innocently. "Nothing the emperor did not command. Why?"

"Don't play dumb, sorcerer," Kitana snapped, hands fisting by her sides. "She's completely changed. Ever since that surgery, she's been..."

Shang Tsung raised an eyebrow when she trailed off. "Yes?"

She bit her lip and remained silent for several seconds, looking as though she didn't know what to say.

He smirked and raised his drink to his lips. "Rest assured I have been keeping her under observation. Besides her reclusiveness, there's nothing I've seen that calls for concern."

"Is that so?" Kitana questioned coldly.

"That's right," he said, taking a drink.

"Then how would you feel if I told you she was in love with Scorpion?"

Shang Tsung sprayed the drink halfway across the room, breaking into a hacking cough.

"Is that a joke?" he rasped, reaching for a napkin. "It was not very—"

"It's no joke," she interrupted. "You did something to her and now she's obsessed with that...that..._hell spawned _spectre! The reason she's been so reclusive lately is because she's planning on courting him!"

All the colour drained from the sorcerer's face. "Did you say 'courting'?"

"Yes," Kitana said, exasperated. "Didn't you notice her behaviour change at all?"

Memories of working in the Flesh Pits and having Mileena interrogate him about human courtship rituals flooded his mind. He suddenly felt sick.

"It's...probably temporary," he replied, inwardly stricken. "Make nothing of it. I will see for myself if your claims are true."

"Do that," Kitana said icily. "Because if they are, I think my father ought to know."

At that, his face paled even further.

"There's no need for that, princess. I will see to it today."

"You had better," she retorted, giving him one final glare before turning to leave.

Shang Tsung waited for the door to slam shut before letting his shoulders drop in relief. He looked down at his unfinished meal and grimaced before pushing the plate away.

He suddenly didn't feel hungry anymore.

* * *

The sky was growing dark as the day slipped into dusk, fading from purple to indigo. By Outworld standards, it might have qualified as a nice night—save for the lone, black silhouette making his way to the imperial palace.

Scorpion sauntered across the bridge, in no rush to get to his destination. It was just his luck the night would be wasted in the company of Shao Kahn and the Shokan prince—all because the emperor felt it necessary for his underlings to have a meet and greet session.

It was a waste of time, he groused, making his way towards the front gates. And he hated social gatherings. Even the Tarkatan Baraka had somehow managed to weasel his way out of this one, citing extraneous circumstances.

Scorpion couldn't quite use the same excuse. He was dead. He _had_ no extraneous circumstances.

If the rest of their allegiance turned out like this, it was more trouble than it was worth. And then there was that issue of—

"My, my, aren't you a sight for sore eyes?"

He stopped short and looked up.

Twenty feet ahead, Mileena stood leaning against the front of the gates, eyes gleaming in amusement.

Scorpion felt his eye twitch.

After stalling for a few seconds, he reluctantly made his way over to the gate. Her veil creased at the corners as he approached, evidence of her grinning beneath it.

He stopped in front of her and narrowed his eyes.

"Get out of my way."

She emitted a deceptively innocent laugh, raising a hand and wagging a finger.

"Ask nicely, first."

His annoyance escalated into aggravation but he didn't show it. From what he'd seen and heard, the second daughter of Shao Kahn had a reputation for being a vicious man-eater with a penchant for twisted mind games. The latter had already been proven after she'd followed him through the woods yesterday. Reacting to her taunts would probably only egg her on.

Making up his mind, he ignored her and continued forward.

Mileena's eyes widened in surprise when he stepped closer and suddenly vanished in a burst of flames. Straightening from against the gate, she glanced around for him until she heard another whoosh of flames behind her. Whirling around, she saw that he'd teleported to the other side and was leisurely making his way into the palace.

Both parts put off and enchanted by the trick, she quickly ran after him.

When she entered the throne room, it was already a morass of people ranging from her father's soldiers, a group of rowdy Tarkatans, several Shokan representatives including Goro, and whatever other riffraff Outworld had to offer. Worming her way through the crowd, she looked around for a glimpse of yellow and black, impatiently punching out a leering Tarkatan that got in her way.

A moment later, she caught sight of him sitting alone in a dim little niche by one of the windows, elbows resting on his knees and eyes narrowed impatiently at the floor. The sight of him in all his aloof, anti-social glory sent her heart aflutter all over again.

Scorpion didn't react when she broke through the crowd and made her way over to him, keeping his eyes determinedly on the floor.

"I didn't expect such a turnout!" she exclaimed, leaning against the wall next to him and crossing her arms. "There's hardly anywhere to sit..."

She looked down at him. "Do you mind if I stay next to you?"

He gave a noncommittal grunt.

She beamed. "All right, then I'll just..." She stopped and glanced around in mock disappointment. "Oh, but there's no room."

Thank the Elder Gods, Scorpion thought silently.

"In that case..." she sidled up next to him, an impish glint in her eye. "Can I sit in your lap?"

Scorpion got up so fast he nearly gave himself whiplash. He left without a backwards glance, crossing over to the other end of the room.

Mileena gazed after him and giggled, pressing her hands to her cheeks. "Aw, he's shy. How cute."

A moment later, Shao Kahn entered the room and everyone erupted in a mad dash to get into ranks as he took his throne. Mileena quickly took her place by her father's side and grinned when Goro, Scorpion, Shang Tsung, and Kitana stood in a line adjacent to the throne. The rest of the attendees stood in formation at the end of the room.

The next two hours passed in sweet torment as Shao Kahn's advisors began a long, tedious debriefing on the war. She didn't listen to a single thing they said, instead gazing shamelessly at Scorpion the entire time they spent discussing battle tactics.

Every little thing he did fascinated her—from the way he blinked excessively to keep his eyes open during the boring parts, to the way he curled and uncurled his fingers impatiently, and even the way he purposely turned his head to avoid making eye contact with her.

Across the room, Shang Tsung and Kitana watched the behaviour with mounting horror. Kitana looked troubled by it whereas Shang Tsung looked positively nauseous.

It was a miracle Shao Kahn hadn't noticed. Mileena wasn't even _trying_ to be subtle.

Even Goro noticed the stares, most likely misinterpreting them if the way he kept self-consciously straightening his loincloth was any indication.

Worse, it was easy to see that Mileena was growing frustrated with the inattention. She kept changing between different provocative poses in the hope that one would catch his attention. In the end, all she managed to get was Goro gaping at her.

"And now for logistics," Shao Kahn announced, jarring everyone from their stupor. "Kitana!"

A map of Outworld was unfurled next to him.

"This is bad," Kitana muttered in passing to Shang Tsung when she was summoned to the front of the room.

At the same time, Mileena felt an icy stab of indignation when she caught the brief glance Scorpion spared her sister as she walked past him. Kitana returned the wary look before taking her place by the map.

As she started outlining the positions, Mileena felt her mind shut down.

The extremely tiny, rational part of her brain tried to assure her that yes, of course he would look, because what kind of ninja wouldn't assess his surroundings? And it was only for half a second after all...a half second he never spared _her_, though...

She gritted her teeth.

But of course, with that wretchedly perfect face of hers, why wouldn't he look? That lofty status and elegant demeanour probably didn't hurt, either.

She clenched her fists.

And after she'd spent yesterday regaling Kitana with examples of how wonderful her future betrothed was, it was no wonder she gave him that suggestive glance and—_that traitorous bitch_.

Gnashing her teeth in fury, Mileena tore off her veil and lunged at Kitana. "He's _mine_, you whore!"

Kitana somehow managed to fend off the attack and the room erupted in screams of rage and shouts of protest as Mileena clawed wildly at her face. Shao Kahn pinched the bridge of his nose, closing his eyes as Shang Tsung face-palmed and Scorpion watched in disgust.

Goro nervously scratched his head. "Who was she talking about?"

* * *

Fifteen minutes after the congregation dispersed and Mileena had been locked in her room, Kitana and Shang Tsung stood before the less than amused Shao Kahn.

"Explain," he growled.

Shang Tsung wrung his hands. "Well, emperor, as you see, the surgery seemed to have had an effect—"

"Oh, I can definitely see that," Shao Kahn interrupted, eye twitching. "First she attacks Scorpion for absolutely no reason. Then she locks herself in her room for three weeks. And now she shouts some nonsense in the middle of an important meeting and attacks Kitana. Spare me the bullshit, sorcerer. What have you done?"

Shang Tsung cringed. "As it is, I can assure you that her actions are no longer due to random fits of madness. Her change in behaviour has just one cause..."

He swallowed, voice strained.

"Since the surgery...she has developed an unhealthy obsession with the wraith."

Shao Kahn's brow furrowed in confusion. "She wants to kill Scorpion?"

Shang Tsung mouthed wordlessly, unsure how to say it in a way that wouldn't get him killed on the spot. Realizing the sorcerer was at a loss for words, Kitana rubbed her forehead and cut in.

"She's in _love_ with him."

Horrified by her choice of words, Shang Tsung got a hold of himself and interrupted before the emperor could take off his head. "It's nothing more than juvenile infatuation. If you will allow me, I can—"

Shao Kahn held up his hand and the room fell silent. Kitana was surprised to see her father actually mulling this information over.

"This problem...so far it's kept her from attacking any of my other guests, correct?"

The sorcerer looked confused. "I believe so."

"And she hasn't jeopardized any of my recruitments because she's been occupied, right?"

"Yes," Shang Tsung said uncertainly.

"Then let it be," Shao Kahn declared, shocking them both. "My business with the Shokan is more important than just Scorpion's allegiance, and he will serve as a worthy distraction for Mileena in the mean time."

"Yes," Shang Tsung quickly agreed, almost sinking to the floor in relief. "That was my intent from the very beginning."

Kitana threw him a dirty look before gazing imploringly at her father.

"But we can't predict how Mileena will react if Scorpion rejects her. If anything, this may even worsen her fits."

"Nonsense," he scoffed. "Women are weak in the face of heartbreak. If anything, a rejection will leave her listless and miserable. I'd prefer her that way during this time, anyway."

Even Kitana was taken aback by the callousness of that remark. "But father—"

"That's enough. No more shall be said on the subject. I am hosting a final recruitment event in one week and am expecting every warrior in Outworld to be in attendance. Mileena will not get in the way, this time."

Shang Tsung bowed and the two shared a smug, self-congratulatory smile. Kitana frowned at them both before voicing the obvious question.

"Did anyone ask Scorpion what he thinks of this?"

They looked blankly at each other.

"Who cares," Shao Kahn said.

* * *

A few hours after the meeting fiasco, Mileena had calmed down significantly. Her extremely short attention span was partly to thank, along with the fact that she couldn't ruminate on her malcontent for Kitana when all she could think about was Scorpion.

Rolling over onto her stomach, Mileena tucked a pillow under her chin and crossed her ankles, idly swinging her legs behind her. At least she'd managed to get his attention after attacking Kitana, she thought happily, drawing circles on the bedspread.

It was funny. She was finding that courtship was rather similar to battle in some sense. An aggressive attack plan would invariably elicit a response, even from the most stoic opponent.

She would just have to keep chipping at him until she broke through that veneer. And when she did...

Mileena rested her chin against the pillow, eyes growing half-lidded as she lost herself in her fantasies.

They would do everything together. They'd carry out assassinations, laying waste side by side until all lay dead before them. Then he would do something sweet and chivalrous like hold her hand and help her walk across the backs of corpses to protect her shoes from the mulch of blood and viscera.

And it wouldn't be all work. They'd have fun and games, too, like pelting rocks at prisoners for target practice—five points for the body, ten points for the head—and traipsing into the Living Forest to see who could knock down the most cadavers.

Then at the end of the day, they'd burn the forest to the ground just for the hell of it. And in the midst of the glowing firelight, she'd see the ever-present furrow in his brow recede, just a tiny bit, and know he was happy to be with her and her alone. Then she'd rest her head blissfully against his shoulder and they'd turn and walk off together, hand in hand, leaving a lone tree with their names and a heart carved into it standing in the wake of their carnage.

Mileena released a euphoric sigh, lacing her hands together for the time being when there was a knock at the door.

Startled, she sat up and glared at the front of the room. "Go away!"

"Open the door, Mileena."

She blinked, surprised and displeased to hear Kitana's voice. When she didn't answer, a flash of steel cut through the jamb and the door swung open. Kitana snapped one of her fans closed and entered the room.

"You," Mileena began murderously, sitting up in bed. "You want me to cut off your pretty little head, sister? I'm going to—"

"Silence," Kitana ordered, an impatient glare on her face. "Don't make me rethink my decision to pity you. You should be grateful I'm on your side after what you did."

"Side?" Mileena echoed, on the verge of hysteria. "I saw what you did!"

"I did nothing," Kitana said sternly. "Let me make this clear. I have absolutely _no_ interest in that spectre. And nor does he in me. Do you understand?"

"You're lying!" Mileena screeched. "Why should I believe you?"

Kitana scowled at her, about to consider giving up and leaving when her eyes fell on the unfinished teddy bear sitting at the head of her bed. Her anger faltered, empathy rising in place of her resentment.

She stood there for a few seconds, wondering if she'd wind up regretting her decision in the end, but eventually closed the door and stepped further into the room.

"You should believe me," she said with a sigh, "because I already have someone."

Mileena fell silent and stared at her.

Taking advantage of her temporary calm, Kitana seated herself at the edge of the bed and watched her sister carefully. "It's true. I love someone else."

Mileena cocked her head at her. "You do?"

Somewhat embarrassed by the admittance, Kitana nodded.

"Who?"

She hesitated, not sure she wanted to tell Mileena, of all people, but realized she'd only provoke her sister's ire if she didn't give a straight answer.

She bit her lip. "Liu Kang."

Mileena gave her a blank look. "The monk?"

"...yes."

Silence.

Then Mileena collapsed in a fit of hysterical laughter. Taken aback and slightly offended, Kitana watched her roll around on the bed clutching her ribs, unsure how to react.

"What?" she demanded after a while. "Why is that funny?"

Mileena couldn't answer for several seconds, her body quaking in laughter. After a few minutes, she sat up and seized Kitana's wrist, startling her when she pulled her close and looked at her with eyes shining in mirth.

"Did he refuse his teddy bear?"

"What?" Kitana said blankly. "What are you—"

Then she realized what she meant. Shang Tsung must've told her something absurd if Mileena honestly equated teddy bears with courtship in the Earthrealm.

Deciding to play along, Kitana sat back and pursed her lips.

"He did not. I haven't..." she paused, trying to figure out how to explain this to her. "I haven't given him one yet."

Mileena looked genuinely perplexed. "Why?"

"It's not as simple as just giving him a stuffed animal," Kitana said. "It's far more complex than that."

"It is not," Mileena scoffed. "You're just afraid he won't take it."

Kitana opened her mouth to retort, but then closed it again. As ridiculous as the whole premise was, there was a degree of truth in it. She _had_ been too afraid to let her feelings be known to the Shaolin monk, for fear that he wouldn't reciprocate them.

With that in mind, seeing Mileena so blindly confident and with such simple-minded expectations wrung another wave of sympathy from her.

"Mileena," she said wearily. "I think you should slow down with this whole courtship business. You'll scare him off."

"That doesn't make sense," Mileena snorted. "I'm not trying to kill him. Why would he be scared?"

Kitana resisted the urge to bury her face in her palm and instead closed her eyes. Talking sense to Mileena was honestly like talking to a child.

"I didn't mean _literally_. I..." Kitana trailed off, inwardly realizing it was futile. Mileena was simply too juvenile and single-minded to understand. All she could do was give her advice and pray that she followed it.

"Just think about what you're doing before you do it. Wait a while before you give him the bear. And just...be careful."

Mileena gave her a penetrating look. "Why do you care?"

Kitana held her gaze.

"Because I know how you feel."

Mileena didn't respond, but a strange look flickered in her eyes and she tilted her head at her as though seeing her properly for the first time. Kitana didn't wait for her to speak and rose, making her way to the door.

"In one week from today, father will host one final recruitment event. Be ready and keep in mind what I've said."

With that, Kitana left the room and closed the door behind her. She stood out in the hall for several seconds, then slouched back against the wall with a grimace.

This was going to be a disaster.

* * *

_One week later._

To say that Scorpion was pissed off was an understatement.

Shao Kahn had called another mandatory meeting under the pretence that it involved official army business. But now that he was here, it had become painfully obvious that the emperor was full of shit. He only wanted his recruits to swear verbal allegiance before using the meeting as an excuse to party.

Consequently, the palace was bursting at the seams with people. Baraka, Sheeva, and Goro arrived leading the masses of Tarkatan and Shokan soldiers, and if that wasn't enough, Shao Kahn's own personal army and rookie recruits from the rest of Outworld were in attendance.

The throne room was far too small so they'd all been crammed into the banquet room, transforming it into an assembly of shouting, stamping, out of control soldiers.

Scorpion stood far away against the wall from the rowdy dining tables, scowling when Shao Kahn waved for quiet from his seat.

Already drunk off his success, the emperor had gotten even drunker off a few bottles of wine and stood up in his chair.

"Tonight," he began in a remarkably sober voice, "is a night that will go down in history. Never has Outworld amassed such an army. Never has our chance of success looked so bright. The war before us will be long and hard and I'm sure most of you won't be coming out of it alive...but tonight," he thrust out a bottle of wine, swaying slightly.

"Tonight we _celebrate_!" He threw the bottle into the crowd, raising his arms in a cheer. "Seal the doors! Nobody goes home!"

The room erupted in deafening cheers and hooting as wine was doled out in barrels. The booze had been specially commissioned by Bo'Rai Cho himself. As a result, it didn't take more than thirty minutes before everyone was wasted within an inch of their lives.

Scorpion closed his eyes and counted to ten.

Were the Elder Gods trying to punish him?

"_There_ you are!"

Apparently so.

He opened his eyes and found Mileena standing before him, hands clasped in front of her in delight. "Do you know how long it took me to find you?"

"Go away," he said flatly.

Her eyes crinkled at the corners as she smiled. "You're so cute when you're angry. Has anyone ever told you that?"

He was silent, wondering if she'd actually said what he thought he'd heard her say.

Then he decided he didn't want to know.

Pushing himself off the wall, he moved past her and headed off for the hallways, hoping at least one of them would give him time to be alone.

Unperturbed by his abrupt exit, Mileena eagerly moved to follow.

Her pursuit didn't go unnoticed. She was an obvious favourite with the Tarkatan males and several of them were irked to see her tailing the spectre through the banquet room and into the hallways.

Mileena was well aware they were following her, but it didn't bother her until one of them actually stepped out and blocked her way.

It was Sarkis, one of Baraka's underlings. He gave her a lopsided grin. "Where are you off to, sweetcheeks?"

"Out of my way," Mileena snapped, shoving him aside.

Sarkis stumbled a little but got back in her face again, sneering. "What're you doing wasting time on him for? Best if you stick to yer own kind, Mileena."

Mileena reached for her sais to get rid of him for good when he suddenly turned around and called out to the departing Scorpion.

"Some great clan," he laughed, spitting on the floor. "Taken out in one go by the snowman. Anyone that pathetic would've deserved it."

Scorpion stopped dead.

An odd hush fell over the group when he slowly turned around, eyes narrowed into slits.

"Say that again."

Sarkis grinned malevolently. "Oh? Did that strike a nerve? Sure, I'll say it again. Your clan is pathe—_oof_!"

The crowd scattered and broke out in startled yells and cheers when Scorpion tackled him to the ground. The hooting lasted only a few seconds, though, tapering off into mortified silence when they saw that it wasn't so much a fight as it was Scorpion beating the absolute living shit out of him.

A minute later, the Tarkatan was nothing more than a smear on the floor.

Scorpion got to his feet, splattered in blood and glaring balefully at the crowd in silent defiance. When no one spoke, he turned around and left.

Disappointed murmurs broke out and several Tarkatans shook their heads in shame, reaching down to drag the corpse out of the room. Mileena remained where she stood, staring wide-eyed in the direction he'd disappeared.

Her heart was practically doing cartwheels in her chest. That had been, hands down, the most brutal beating she'd ever witnessed.

Getting a hold of herself, she managed to bring her legs to movement and took off after him.

It wasn't hard. She just followed the trail of bloody footprints until she found him in one of the empty halls by the water fountain.

Thinking quickly, she grabbed something from one of the nearby linen cabinets and slowly approached him.

He raised his head at the footsteps. When he saw it was her, he seemed to fight back a suffering sigh before returning his attention to the fountain.

"I saw that back there. You were wonderful!" Mileena said earnestly. "I've never seen so much blood."

He didn't reply, giving her a wearily annoyed side glance before proceeding to wash the blood off his hands. Mileena watched him in silent admiration, pleased that most of the blood belonged to Sarkis and not him. But there was one nasty cut on his upper arm that was still bleeding, a lucky hit the Tarkatan had managed to land in his thrashing.

He was just about to give the wound a rough swipe with his hand when Mileena took a step forward and drew her hands from behind her back, offering him a washcloth.

Scorpion stilled, glancing at the proffered cloth. Then he raised his gaze and gave her a meditative look. Mileena felt her legs turn to jelly when he eventually reached out and took it, his fingertips brushing hers.

He mopped up the blood and tossed the rag over the edge of the fountain. Then he left without a word.

Mileena stared after him, reverently holding the hand he'd touched against her chest. Then she reached out and took the bloody rag he'd left behind, holding it up in front of her. In a fit of uncontrolled compulsion, she buried her face in it and breathed it in as one would a heavenly perfume.

The effect was intoxicating. She slumped back against the wall in a swoon and held the rag over her heart, gazing yearningly at the door he'd exited through.

For some reason, her mind chose to remind her of something Kitana had said the week before.

_I think you should slow down with this whole courtship business. You'll scare him off._

Her sister's advice still didn't make sense to her. It didn't compute that such a powerful warrior could possibly be afraid of something as non-threatening as courtship. And if she 'slowed down' as Kitana put it, she was liable to lose him to someone else.

Besides, what the hell did Kitana know, anyway? She was ten thousand years old and had never had a man in her life.

Mileena straightened from against the wall, new determination burning in her eyes. So far her attempts hadn't worked, but perhaps she'd been going about it the wrong way. Until the teddy bear was complete, she would need a new game plan.

She tapped her chin.

Maybe...if she couldn't get his notice by chasing him, then she'd get his notice by getting him to chase _her_.

A conniving grin crossed her face.

That definitely sounded like a plan.

* * *

Despite his aversion to crowds, Scorpion returned to the banquet room a while later. He had the impression that Mileena wouldn't expect him to go back, and if she had the slightest bit of rational sense, she wouldn't go looking for him there. Or at least that's what he hoped.

He sat at the farthest corner of one of the tables, refusing to sit between two people and resolving to leave as soon as Shao Kahn passed out in drunkenness.

Unbeknownst to him, Kitana sat at the other end, watching in trepidation as she observed his rapidly dwindling level of patience.

The spectre looked like a time bomb ready to go off, his arms crossed rigidly and eyes trained with eerie stillness on some point on the wall.

She was relieved to see that Mileena was nowhere in sight, halfway hoping her sister had become distracted by a brawl somewhere on the premises.

The thought came too soon.

Kitana blanched when she caught sight of Mileena winding her way through the throng and reaching Scorpion's end of the table. There was some dignitary already sitting across from him, but Mileena quickly disposed of him by grabbing him by the neck and throwing him across the room. Then she seductively slid into the seat.

Scorpion ignored her completely.

Kitana watched in apprehension, hoping she would take the hint and leave. But it was then Mileena did the unthinkable.

With slow, purposeful movements, she extended her leg beneath the table and brushed her toes against the side of Scorpion's ankle. Then she slid her foot up his leg.

The Shirai Ryu warrior went completely still, his eyes widening. He remained like that for a fraction of a second. Then all hell broke loose.

Mileena jumped out of her seat, laughing hysterically when Scorpion leapt to his feet and summoned hellfire beneath her chair, instantly incinerating the wood and two of the unfortunate people sitting next to her. Undeterred, he drew his swords and lunged after her.

The crowd broke up in disarray, people screaming and diving in all directions as the spectre cleaved through the table.

Kitana shook her head and buried her face in her hand.

Scorpion chased her through the palace at least twice, leaving extensive damage and two charred corpses before Mileena dashed back into the banquet room and took shelter behind her father, practically convulsing with laughter.

Scorpion pursued her all the way there, desisting only upon encountering Shao Kahn.

Fortunately, the gallon or two of wine Shao Kahn had ingested left him overtly magnanimous. He clasped the fuming Scorpion to his side and gave him a friendly shake. "Ha ha! That's what I like to see! Camaraderie between my best soldiers!"

He slapped the furious ninja on the back, missing his death glare when he turned to face the crowd.

"Carry on," he declared, oblivious to the fire and the injured people scattered around the decimated table. "Tsung, more wine!"

The harrowed sorcerer gave him a look of disbelief before running off to do as he was told.

Shao Kahn returned his attention to Scorpion.

"Why don't you take one of the rooms upstairs and unwind a little?" he said, thumping him on the back again. "You can join us in the morning."

Scorpion's fists tightened by his sides when Mileena emitted another laugh from behind her father. Giving a stiff nod, he turned away and left the room, his path unimpeded this time as people practically dove out of his way.

He chose to get as high up in the palace as possible. The long ascent up the stairs would give him time to cool off, not to mention get him away from Shao Kahn's wretchedly insane daughter.

The thought of her made him stop and look behind him to see if she was following. This was instantly followed by a wave of self-deprecation.

Here he was, the greatest warrior of his clan, returned to life as a terrifying hell-spawned wraith, casting paranoid glances over his shoulder for a girl.

He wondered what Subzero would say if he could see him now. Probably nothing, he realized in irritation. He'd be too busy rolling around on the ground laughing.

He continued all the way to the fourth floor and started down the hall, finding it pleasantly quiet. The peace didn't last long, however, when he tensed upon the feeling of someone following him again.

Reacting quickly, he pulled open the door to the nearest room and disappeared inside, closing it behind him.

The room was dark and silent. He stood facing the door, prepared to kill whoever was stupid enough to follow him inside when a hand suddenly descended upon his shoulder.

Scorpion whirled around and did the first thing that instinctively came to mind. He roundhouse kicked the person through the fourth-story window.

The glass shattered on impact and was accompanied by a shrill, rapidly falling scream. His belated realization that it was someone else entirely—namely a man who'd been occupying the room with an escort—came far too late. A second later, a quiet but sickening _thump_ sounded distantly from outside.

Disconcerted, Scorpion turned towards the shrieking woman on the bed. Before he could even open his mouth to speak, she ran screaming from the room.

He stood there for several seconds, agitated before he made his way over to the window to look outside. Sure enough, something that looked like a mangled body lay in the spike pit by the drawbridge.

A mischievous giggle suddenly broke the silence.

"You naughty boy..."

Stiffening, Scorpion turned away from the window and looked to the front of the room.

Mileena stood leaning against the side of the doorway, a devious look in her eyes. "If you wanted someone to spend the night with _that_ badly..."

She stepped into the darkened room, easing the door shut behind her.

"You could've just asked."

For a long moment, Scorpion just stood there staring at her. Her audacity was truly something to behold.

Then blistering, mind-numbing fury kicked in.

Outside the room, several passersby were sent flying when the door blew off its hinges beneath a massive burst of hellfire, hitting the wall opposite it.

Mileena escaped the room a moment later, cackling in glee.

Scorpion remained inside, arms limp by his sides as he tried to catch his breath from the force of the attack. A vein stood out in his forehead and a withering glare came over his face as panicked screams filled the hall and the servants frantically started running around to put out the fire.

He dropped his head.

He had had enough.

As long as she was here, there was no way in hell he was staying in the same building.

Looking at the broken window, he considered his only option and decided it was better than staying another minute in the palace.

He spent the night on the roof.


	3. Chapter 3

Passing Fancy

By: firefly

Note: Thank you once again to everyone for their reviews! I appreciate every single one so much. :) On another note, I don't know what I was talking about when I gave estimates of how long this fic would be. Let's just see how far we get, because I obviously suck at controlling myself.

(Also, since this is posted at Deviant Art...if anyone feels like doodling something based off this insane story it would make my week. :D)

Anyway, enough babble. Read, please enjoy, and remember that reviews are always love!

Passing Fancy ch.3

Three weeks passed before Scorpion set foot anywhere near the imperial palace again.

The time elapsed in a blur in the chaos of preparing for the impending war, with Kitana acting as a liaison between the palace and their allies, Shang Tsung spearheading the battle strategies, and Shao Kahn scraping the rock bottom of Outworld for fighters to add to his army.

Even the maids were busy helping in the armoury.

The only one not enthusiastically involved was Mileena.

Since both Shang Tsung and her father were too caught up in their affairs to supervise her and assign her any missions, she was pretty much left to divide her time between languishing in her room and working on the teddy bear.

Painstaking hours were spent sewing details onto the stuffed animal, sometimes leading her to scrap a day's work if it didn't match the bear in the picture. And since she wasn't exactly adept with a thread and needle, it took her three times longer than it would have anyone else.

Patience was not something she'd been born with and her short attention span made it incredibly difficult to focus, making each day that slipped by feel like eternity.

And in those moments where she grew too frustrated and her yearning too great, she'd pry open the loose floorboard under her bed, lock her door, and curl into bed with the bloodied rag she'd saved from the last time she'd seen him.

She'd hold it up against her face and breathe it in, eyes closing in contentment for a few blissful minutes where she imagined it being the real thing.

Unbeknownst to her, her absence did not go unnoticed.

A few days later, Shang Tsung stood once more before the emperor, waiting patiently as Shao Kahn drummed his fingers against his knee in contemplation.

"I have another issue," he said finally.

Shang Tsung did not look surprised. "Mileena, I presume."

The emperor frowned. "Exactly. No one has time to supervise her while we prepare for invasion. Granted, she hasn't jeopardized any of my alliances as of late, but I will not take any risks while you and I aren't around to control her."

"Pardon my ignorance, but haven't you already secured your allies?" Shang Tsung inquired.

Shao Kahn's frown deepened. "It annoys me to say it, but I have a rather tenuous hold on the Shokan. They are still angry after Mileena killed four of their last couriers."

"Ah," Shang Tsung muttered.

Shao Khan leaned back in his chair. "We'll need her out of the palace for the week while I patch things up. What do you propose?"

Shang Tsung thought a moment. Then a cunning grin slowly crossed his face.

Shao Kahn raised an eyebrow. "You have a suggestion?"

"More than just a suggestion," the sorcerer said smugly. "Leave it to me, emperor."

* * *

The next day, Mileena finally got the news she'd been waiting for.

A timid knock at her door carried into the room, going for the most part ignored as Mileena sat cross-legged on her bed, hunched over the bear in concentration.

When another knock came a few seconds later, Mileena paused her sewing and raised her head.

"What?" she snapped.

A muffled, obviously terrified voice seeped through the cracks.

"Y-Your presence is requested in the throne room, my lady."

"I'm busy," she retorted, carefully threading a button onto the bear's face. "Go away if you don't want to die."

The anxiety in the maid's voice jumped a notch. "Um...t-the emperor commands it. He says a...er, Scorpion is here."

Mileena dropped the bear to the floor.

"_He is_?" she shrieked.

The maid was knocked flat when the door burst open and Mileena practically ran her over on the way out. She jumped down the steps three at a time, skidding around the corners before she reached the first floor.

She paused momentarily before the water fountain to check her reflection, smoothing down her hair and adjusting her clothing before she sprinted for the throne room and burst in a moment later.

The entire scene was like déjà vu.

The room was full of the usual Outworld grunts and Shang Tsung stood in his usual spot next to the throne. And there, in the centre of the room, Scorpion stood facing her father, turning his magnificent head to glance in her direction.

Mileena felt herself fall in love all over again.

"Ah, Mileena," Shao Kahn said, smirking in satisfaction. "Come join us. We were just debriefing Scorpion on our latest mission."

Several of the guards shifted uneasily when there was a palpable spike in killer intent emanating from the wraith.

Resisting the urge to tackle him on the spot, Mileena strutted her way into the room and casually took a place by his side.

Scorpion gave her a look of absolute death.

Mileena shaped her fingers into a heart and winked in return.

"As I was saying," Shao Kahn continued. "I've discovered a band of rogue Outworlders plotting to overthrow me. They are nothing but mere pests, but I do not have time to deal with such nuisances. So I want you, Scorpion, to eradicate them."

Scorpion nodded slightly.

Shao Kahn stroked his chin. "As for your partner..."

The Shirai Ryu stiffened, his eyes narrowing. "I have no need for a partner."

Shao Kahn grinned beneath his mask. "It pleases me to see you so confident, but you will have one nonetheless."

Mileena's eyes widened. This was it—the opportunity of a lifetime. Elder Gods help her, she absolutely could _not_ let this chance go to waste.

Shao Kahn tapped his chin. "Your partner will be..."

Mileena made a not-so-subtle show of jumping on the spot, gesturing to herself and frantically waving for her father's attention.

Shao Kahn pretended not to notice and thoughtfully surveyed the people in the room. Then he made an exaggerated turn of his head as though he'd just noticed his daughter vying for his attention and gestured to her with a complacent smile.

"Mileena."

"_Yay_!" she cheered, jumping for joy.

Scorpion clenched his fists so hard the nearby curtains spontaneously combusted.

"_No_," he gritted out. "I work alone."

Shao Kahn seemed horribly amused by all of this.

"Temper your pride, Scorpion. I do not accept failure. Including Mileena as your partner is my way of ensuring success."

He opened his mouth to argue, but Shao Kahn interrupted him with a dismissive wave.

"You have one week. Now leave."

Livid, Scorpion somehow managed to contain the curses he wanted to hurl at the emperor and stalked out of the room.

The sentries patrolling the halls practically leapt out of his way, knowing he wasn't to be trifled with after the banquet room fiasco from a month earlier.

The same couldn't be said for Mileena.

"Where are you going?" she called after him, giving chase. "We have to go over the mission details!"

Scorpion didn't slow his stride and threw her an irate look over his shoulder. "Stay away from me."

"But we're partners now," Mileena explained, as if that resolved everything. "We have to be together!"

Anyone with the slightest sense of self-preservation would have known they'd gone too far when Scorpion slowly turned and gave her a look of absolute venom. Mileena found herself backed into a corner when he took a step forward.

"I will say this once," he said in a frighteningly low voice. "I work alone. If you value your life, you will leave now."

"I'd rather take the risk," she said, voice dropping into a seductive murmur as she touched his arm, "if it means being close to you."

Several of Mileena's hairs were singed when Scorpion practically vaporized the ground she'd been standing on.

Dodging the attack, her grating laughter echoed over the walls as she skipped merrily down the hall.

"Tomorrow morning, darling," she sang, blowing him a kiss. "I'll meet you by the gate!"

Scorpion just stood there glowering after her. Never in his life had someone gotten under his skin to the extent of making him want to bash his brains out against the wall. The mere prospect of spending an entire week with the crazy wench was enough to make his stomach turn.

Muttering epithets to himself, he turned and left the hall. He was halfway to the palace gates when another voice called out.

"Scorpion."

He paused and glanced over his shoulder.

Kitana stood by the balustrade at the entrance and nodded to him. "I would like a word."

He was far from being in the mood to talk, but knew he'd be pushing his luck if he blatantly disregarded the commands of the emperor's only sane daughter. After wavering a moment, he made his way back the way he came and met her in the hall.

Kitana didn't immediately address him and his eyes narrowed suspiciously when she glanced around for eavesdroppers. When she finally spoke, it was in a hushed undertone.

"I take it you've been assigned a mission with Mileena?"

The look on his face made the answer obvious.

Sensing his ire, Kitana spoke quickly. "I understand. She has been rather...fixated on you lately. But I thought I should give you fair warning. Mileena is—"

"I'm aware," he said shortly, interrupting her. "She's out for my blood."

"Yes, she—" Kitana cut herself short, eyes widening when she realized what he'd said. "_What_?"

"Her mind games are just a ploy," Scorpion said, looking mildly irritated at the thought. "She's waiting for me to drop my guard."

Kitana stared at him wordlessly in shock. Then, in an action completely unfitting of a princess, smacked her forehead in exasperation.

"You honestly think," she said slowly, "that Mileena has been following you around because she wants to _kill you_?"

Now he looked annoyed. "Why else would she do it?"

_Oh for God's sake._

Kitana closed her eyes and sighed in defeat.

Honestly, it was no surprise. Unholy harbinger of death or not, Scorpion was as dense as the next guy.

She easily could have told him the truth and erased all the misconceptions, but it was not her place to divulge something so personal. Mileena was either going to have to announce it herself or he would figure it out on his own. And if this conversation had brought anything to light, chances were it would be the former.

"Very well," she said, resigned. "Complete your mission and return in one piece..."

She gave him a hard, meaningful look. "The _both_ of you."

Scorpion stared after her as she left, vaguely put off by her choice of words.

If she was implying that the mission would be too much for him to handle, then she was seriously underestimating him. But if she meant for him to refrain from murdering her psychotic sister somewhere along the way...

His eye twitched.

That he couldn't guarantee.

* * *

Mileena barely slept that night, spending the hours tossing and turning in anticipation until the first dim rays of sunshine broke through her window. Once she saw it was daylight, she leapt out of bed and dashed off to get ready.

For some reason, everything around her seemed exceptionally beautiful that morning—from the scum inside the bathtub to the dingy hallways leading to the dungeons. Even the perpetually grey sky seemed to glow over the pretty dead trees in the palace garden.

Overcome by excitement, Mileena made her way to the front gates hours before he was due to arrive, wanting to be the first to catch glimpse of him on the horizon.

And like clockwork, he arrived right on schedule, looking more reticent than normal judging from his almost listless stride. Ecstatic, she jumped to her feet and didn't wait for him to make it to her, instead rushing out past the gates to greet him halfway.

Scorpion's expression darkened upon seeing her.

"Good morning," she trilled, sounding inappropriately happy. "Are you ready to go?"

Scorpion didn't reply, instead gazing at the gates where he could see a vulture voraciously tearing into an unidentifiable animal. It was a testament to his misery when he found himself envying the dead creature.

"The mission scroll," he said eventually, voice clipped. "Where is it?"

She waved a finger at him, voice teasing as she patted her shoulder bag. "Tsk, tsk. You underestimate me."

He scowled at her, his last hopes of retrieving the scroll and running away blowing up in his face.

Now he had no choice. He was far from happy with the circumstances, but complaining about it was below him. He would just have to deal with it.

With that, he turned wordlessly and began walking back in the other direction.

Mileena gladly moved to follow, only to stop midway when he halted and looked at her.

"Don't speak," he said when she opened her mouth. "Do not touch me. And don't get in my way. Follow these rules and I might let you live."

"But—"

Scorpion silenced her with a baleful look and continued down his path.

_How does he expect me to keep quiet_, Mileena wondered, _if he keeps making those hilarious faces at me?_

Fighting back a laugh, she silently followed.

It would be pretty difficult to do as he'd asked, but she figured it would work in her favour anyway. She may have been juvenile, but she was far from dumb. She knew that if she obeyed for the first hour or two, he would get used to her enough to grant a few allowances here and there.

That, and staying quiet would give her ample time to observe his quirks and body language.

And right now, his body language was telling her that he was extremely pissed off.

Amused, Mileena kept her pace behind him until they left the palace far behind and entered the Living Forest.

The change in atmosphere seemed to calm him a bit and she daringly moved closer to walk by his side as he surveyed their surroundings.

Scorpion didn't notice her proximity, staying vigilant by keeping an eye out for the enemy and hopefully a cave he could wall her into if he got the chance.

Several bodies hung from the trees, swaying eerily in the wind like ornaments. The trees seemed to be watching them, their groans and rumbles echoing through the forest. Scorpion tensed, listening for any odd noises.

Silence.

And then—

"Look out!"

He stumbled and almost fell on his behind when Mileena tackled him away from the shrubbery.

Somehow managing to keep his balance, he threw her off and whipped out his swords.

"What is it?" he demanded.

"There," Mileena said, pointing to something near the bushes. "It was about to attack!"

Scorpion looked in the direction she was pointing and found the culprit. Then, very slowly, he took a deep breath and spoke through gritted teeth.

"That...is a rabbit."

Mileena regarded the fluffy animal with mistrust. "It's not dangerous?"

Scorpion stared at her incredulously.

"No? In that case..."

She reached down and grabbed the rabbit, breaking its neck and holding its limp body up for him to see.

"It can be dinner!" she said cheerfully.

Scorpion just turned around and left.

That little episode ended up costing her despite her good intentions.

They were back to square one, with him silently seething while she trailed him from behind. He was even angrier than before, she wagered, because this time he actually tried setting her on fire when she strayed too close.

Deciding to grant him another hour or two to cool off, Mileena gave him his distance and settled for observing him again.

The Living Forest was turning out uneventful as far as enemies went, so Mileena was quick to notice the tension leaving his shoulders. That should have been enough incentive to try getting close to him again, but something in his demeanour was stirring an unsettling feeling in the pit of her stomach.

Every now and then the perpetually angry look in his eyes would dissolve into something more pensive. Almost sad. But then it'd be gone in an instant, leaving her wondering if she'd imagined it.

Seeing it made her feel strange.

It was an unfamiliar blend of unease and anger, the first because it made her feel ill to see him like that, and the second because she wanted to kill whoever was responsible for making him look like that in the first place.

Mileena only had to see the fleeting expression one more time before she decided she would pester him even more.

Because even if she did piss him off, she preferred seeing him annoyed with her over him being sad. Even if it was just for a few seconds.

A moment later, Scorpion was startled from his reverie when he felt something bump against his side and looked down to see Mileena latching onto his arm.

"So," she said amiably, smiling and looking up at him, "what's the Netherrealm like?"

* * *

Kitana raised her head from a map she'd been studying when she heard a muffled explosion sound somewhere far off on the horizon. A moment later, ravens burst through the forest canopy and a plume of black smoke spiralled into the sky.

She stared blankly at the smoke before shaking her head and sighing.

"Why am I not surprised..."

* * *

Unbeknownst to Kitana, that little altercation had merely turned out to be a sign of things to come.

By the third day of their expedition, it was only by some miracle of the Elder Gods that Mileena was still alive.

Her dedication to distracting and annoying him as much as possible gnawed at Scorpion's patience until his nerves were shot.

Their travel time consisted of her asking inane questions, him trying to ignore her, her trying to initiate physical contact, him making several attempts to burn or stab her, and then finally culminating with Scorpion abandoning her in some desolate wasteland in the middle of the night when his anger reached levels of critical meltdown.

Then he'd come back the next morning because she had the mission scroll and the cycle would begin all over again.

Mileena, on the other hand, had had the time of her life pushing his buttons over the last several days. The fact that his mask covered his face did nothing to hide his emotions, the degree of his anger evident from how deep the furrow was between his eyes.

He despised being touched, so she'd made it into a game to see how many times she could 'accidentally' bump into him before he tried dismembering her. It had been all innocent shoulder brushes and hand nudges up until now, but by the third day she was aiming for something bigger.

Namely, she was toying with the idea of 'accidentally' smacking him on the rump.

It was his fault, really. All his restrictions and rules pretty much left her with nothing to do but walk behind him and stare at his backside for three days. Not that she minded.

But what were his pants made out of, anyway?

That question had been bothering her non-stop for the past twenty-four hours. It didn't look like any material she recognized, and God help him if it was leather.

She pondered deeply for an hour over whether she should do it, ultimately deciding not to because he would probably really kill her if she tried.

But still, she reflected with a devious look in that direction, it was sorely tempting.

By this time, they'd travelled through the Living Forest, wastelands, mountainous terrain, and had just reached the acid-pool ridden swamp, all without encountering a single enemy. Scorpion had given up all hope that there was an actual group of rogues for him to exterminate.

The suspicion had been lingering in the back of his mind for the last two days, but he was only now starting to believe it.

Shao Kahn was fucking with him.

Scorpion slowed his stride by one of the acerbic cesspools and turned his head to glare tiredly in Mileena's direction.

She was standing at the edge of an embankment, poking something floating in the acid with a stick.

"You're almost there!" she said encouragingly, watching the body float closer to the embankment. "Come on..._almost_...!"

There was a faint splash as Mileena purposely jabbed the body away with the stick, breaking into cackles as it floated farther out in the pool. "Aww, so close!"

Scorpion was too jaded by her crazy behaviour to feel anything much beyond annoyance. He briefly considered sneaking up behind her and shoving her into the acid when Mileena suddenly laughed again.

"Look at you, fizzing like that. You must be a freshie."

Scorpion stilled, turning his head for a better look at the corpse. He grew tense when he noticed that the body was, indeed, fresh, its flesh still bubbling in the acid.

A shallow splash sounded somewhere in the distance.

Suddenly alert, he started off in that direction, pausing long enough to call sharply over his shoulder. "Mileena!"

She froze. Turning her head slowly, she saw him beckon impatiently for her to follow.

He said my name, she realized faintly, dropping the stick. _He said my name_.

She stumbled drunkenly after him and followed him as though floating on a cloud, the haze of her euphoria lasting until he came to an abrupt stop at the edge of the swamp and she walked straight into his back.

Throwing her an irritated look, he glanced back out at the landscape.

At first nothing was visible in the thick mist, but then she picked up on several dark shapes approaching through the fog.

When the figures finally emerged into the clearing, she felt Scorpion tense beside her.

They looked like the majority of Outworld natives save for their almost-troll like appearance and abnormal girth. The brown cloaks they wore were obviously for concealment, both from Shao Kahn's army and to keep their weapons hidden. The fact that they were still freshly splattered in blood and grinning maliciously gave Scorpion the grim satisfaction of knowing he'd finally found his targets.

"What's this?" the leader said with a leering look at Mileena. "Shao Kahn's welcoming committee?"

"State your purpose," Scorpion said coldly.

The leader shrugged and glanced around at his group, his grin widening as several more figures began emerging from the mist.

"We have but one purpose; to take back what is rightfully ours and mount Kahn's head on a pike."

Mileena bristled.

"You dare mock the emperor?" she hissed, drawing her sais. "I'll have _your_ head on a pike!"

He sneered. "Strong words for a woman. We owe Kahn no allegiance. The Dragon King Onaga is the only true emperor."

The leader circled around to face Mileena, bringing his spear to his side. "Shao Kahn usurped his throne, so we will return the favour during this fruitless invasion."

Mileena was so incensed that she failed to notice that they'd been completely surrounded, only realizing it when she prepared to strike and suddenly backed into something. Turning her head, her heart almost stopped in her chest when Scorpion gave her a harried look over his shoulder and spoke in an aggravated undertone.

"This side is mine. Take the other half."

Her anger evaporated instantly, heart swelling in happiness at his unexpected acknowledgment. Resolving not to disappoint him, Mileena leaned against him ever so slightly and whispered back.

"With pleasure."

An instant later, the fighters on Scorpion's side lunged forward all at once to overpower him, only to burst into flames when hellfire erupted beneath their feet. Taking advantage of the others' stupefied expressions while their comrades tried to stop, drop and roll, Scorpion immediately put his fist through the nearest one's stomach, kicked another into the acid pool, and split the remainder up the middle with his sword.

Where Scorpion left the ground covered in gore and burnt viscera, Mileena felt as though the muddy landscape had transformed into a utopian dreamland. She fought in a state of blissful unawareness, the sounds of screams and her sais hitting bone sounding like music to her ears, the streams of blood flying around her refracting into rainbows in the sun light.

She couldn't be happier.

Here they were, fighting back to back, laying waste to all those around them. Just like in her fantasies.

The enemies were dropping like flies, too cumbersome and weak to keep up with her lightning-quick assaults and Scorpion's sheer brutality.

In the end, only one remained, swaying unsteadily on his feet as he pointed his spear between the two of them.

Mileena didn't even need to look at Scorpion to anticipate their next move.

Raising her arm in tandem with his, they rushed the remaining enemy and slammed their arms into his neck in a perfectly synced double lariat. Mileena felt her heart swell with joy as their gazes met over the exchange, time seeming to slow down even as their victim's head popped off like a cork and sailed majestically into the sky overhead.

The gush of blood erupting from his neck may as well have been a fountain of sparkles and rainbows, raining down in a glimmering shower as the body collapsed between them and their arms slowly touched.

In that moment, Mileena could have easily died with no regrets.

But then she caught a stir of movement through the bloody mist, eyes widening at the glint of a spear being raised.

She seized Scorpion's arm and yanked him forward with surprising force, using the momentum to hurl herself straight at the leader and his spear.

The impulsive move would have been suicidal if she hadn't caught the spear in the prongs of her sai and twisted it out of his grip at the very last second.

Slamming it through his foot, Mileena took her weapons into her hands and finished him in a way that was exceptionally vicious, even for her.

She rammed her sais into his midsection six times, lodging them deep inside before planting her foot against his chest and tearing his head clean off. Then, as the body collapsed in a twitching heap, she tossed the head into the air and punted it into the swamp.

It landed with a distant splash.

Chest heaving, she reached down and wrenched her sais out of the corpse, kicking it once more with a snarl before turning back around.

Scorpion was standing a few feet away, surrounded by corpses. He was watching her with narrowed eyes.

Suddenly unsure of herself, Mileena put her sais away and looked around aimlessly, hoping one of them was still alive just so she could avoid answering what he was inevitably going to ask.

Her uncertainty was obvious, but Scorpion was unmerciful.

"Why did you do that?"

Mileena only looked at him, still trying to catch her breath as she processed his question.

He sounded almost accusatory, as if suspicious of her intentions.

It didn't surprise her. For the first time in her life, she'd acted out of more than just bloodlust and fury. She'd acted out of an overwhelming desire to protect, an emotion that was completely alien to her up until now.

In her attempt to save his life, she could've grievously injured or even killed herself.

She found that he was still waiting for a response when she raised her eyes, realizing she only had to look at him to learn the answer.

"I would do anything for you," she said reverently.

He only stared at her, expression unreadable.

Mileena laughed suddenly, gesturing to the massacre around them before making a futile attempt at dispelling the blood from her arms.

"Look at me!" she exclaimed, wringing blood from her hair. "I've never gotten so messy playing before! We make a good team, don't we?"

Scorpion didn't reply, instead turning away and walking over to one of the nearby corpses. Mileena watched, vaguely curious as he tugged the brown mantle off the body. Then he tucked it under his arm and resumed walking into the swamp.

She briefly wondered what he intended to do with it before she shrugged it off and moved to follow.

The sky slowly grew dark as they left the acid pools behind them. Mileena followed contentedly from behind, still basking in the experience at the swamp and noticing that he was slowly growing more tolerating of her presence.

Instead of trying to burn her or stab her when she got too close, he simply started shoving her away, usually near a bottomless pit or cavern. Mileena didn't mind, though, enjoying the brief moments of contact.

An hour later, they emerged into a landscape of rocky outcrops and sparse forest. The current of a river glistened in the distance.

He didn't have to speak to let her know they'd reached their stop for the night, and Mileena happily dropped her belongings into a comfortable niche between the rocks and trees.

Scorpion left her there and went to the river to clean the blood off his armour, thankful for the peace and quiet by the water's edge. He'd just finished rinsing the last of the stains off his arms when he heard running footsteps behind him and glanced over his shoulder.

He barely moved from the riverbank in time, narrowly avoiding being splashed when Mileena dove headfirst into the water.

She came to the surface a moment later, sighing in delight as he scowled at her. "Oh, this feels so good! All that blood made me so _itchy_."

That was believable enough. He'd been splattered head to toe, but Mileena had looked as though she'd bathed in it.

"You're leaving already?" she asked when he started up the bank. "Come join me!"

He gave her a withering look. There were a thousand things wrong with that suggestion, none of which he could deign to mention.

Continuing up the riverbank, he made his way back to their camp for the night. The past three nights had found her sleeping and eating alone while he disappeared off somewhere, since neither food nor prolonged rest were things he required.

But this time he settled down near their belongings, effortlessly starting a fire in the dirt.

Like he'd anticipated, the temperature dropped sharply out here in the outskirts. The cold was not much of a bother, but the fire would be a good deterrent to any dangerous animals roaming the area.

But like all good things, the peaceful quiet didn't last. Mileena scampered up the hillside a moment later, drenched and shivering. Scorpion ignored her as she sat down, settling for examining the state of his spear.

As she leaned closer to the fire, Mileena wondered how he could stand the chill until she took a closer look and suddenly understood.

Fascinated, she watched the water evaporate off his skin in lazy plumes of steam, dissipating into the air around him. Within a minute, he was completely dry.

"Not fair," she said, raising her arm and watching the water drip into the dirt. "I can't do that and I'm totally soaked. There's water _everywhere..._"

Scorpion got to his feet, drawing the bundled cloak from under his arm.

"In my hair, in my shoes...even between my—"

He threw it in her face.

Mileena pulled the cloak off her head, leaving her hair a ruffled mess as she looked up at him questioningly.

The contempt was plain in his voice, but he didn't sound angry.

"You lack foresight."

Then he turned around and left.

Mileena stared after him, confused. Then she looked back down at the cloak in her hands.

Back there, she realized suddenly. When he'd picked it up after the battle. She hadn't known it then, but he must have done it because...he'd known she'd need it.

_He'd_ _gotten it just for her._

Mileena balled the cloak and buried her face in it, squealing at the top of her lungs and kicking her legs ecstatically until she toppled backwards off her seat.

Scorpion returned a few minutes later, sparing her a glance but not reacting to the sight of her sitting there in the cloak. She sat with her chin resting in her hands, watching him with a rather unnerving expression.

Ignoring her, he sat by the fire and took his swords from their sheaths, resting them across his knees. Then he drew out a whetstone and began sharpening the blades.

Mileena watched him the entire time, gaze unwavering. The fire looked lovely glistening over the gilded hilts of his swords and armour, devouring the sparks that flew off the blades.

She admired how careful and methodical he was with his weapons, how he took his time ensuring the sharpness of each one before starting on the next. He was just about to start sharpening the blade of his spear when he suddenly stopped and looked up.

"What?" he said irritably.

Mileena blinked. "Hm?"

"What are you staring at?"

She blinked again before a dreamy smile crossed her face. "Hmm, nothing. Just you."

Her smile grew into a grin when that familiar, annoyed crease appeared between his eyes.

When he returned his attention to his spear, the sight of the glinting point reminded her that her sais had taken quite a beating after she'd rammed them repeatedly into that troll.

"Can I use it?" she asked when he put his weapons away.

Scorpion would've replied with a blunt "no" in any other situation. But giving her something to do would at least spare him her endless gawking for a little while.

Mileena started when he tossed the stone to her over the fire. She caught it in both hands as he got up and walked over to sit beneath a nearby tree.

It was still warm from his grip.

Holding it against her heart for a moment to relish its warmth, she threw him an adoring look before she started sharpening the sais.

The sky darkened into inky blackness, casting her surroundings into the pitch where the firelight didn't reach. The ring of steel on the stone was rather soothing to her, so she sat there for nearly half an hour carefully sharpening her weapons until they shone lethally in the dim light. Satisfied, she put them away and stretched, lifting her head.

To her surprise, Scorpion was still sitting beneath the dead tree. He looked as though he hadn't moved at all.

It took her a few seconds to realize that he seemed to be...sleeping.

Funny, she mused, she'd never figured spectres to need sleep. But then again if he could bleed and get injured, then the thought of him needing rest every now and then didn't seem too farfetched.

Mileena only had to look at him a little while longer before a crazy idea crossed her mind.

_Yes_, the extremely tiny, rational part of her brain told her. _That is extremely crazy and extremely dangerous. Maybe you should sleep instead. Sleep is good._

But Mileena didn't listen to logic at the best of times, so she sure as hell wasn't going to listen now when every molecule of her being was straining towards the object of her love. Her heart was doing somersaults again as she gazed yearningly in his direction, her fingers subconsciously lacing in her lap.

In the last twenty-four hours, they'd gotten closer than ever before. They'd fought side by side, she had saved his life, he hadn't made an active attempt to kill her, he had gotten her the cloak, and just now he'd even shared his belongings.

Mileena stood up as though controlled by some outside force, her steps soundless as she crept over to him. He was silent and unmoving, his back to the tree and head bent slightly towards the ground.

She knelt next to him, hardly daring to breathe and heart racing as her eyes flicked over his form and the hand that lay still by his side. She knew she was being foolhardy when she reached out—insane, even—but all her rationalities seemed unimportant now. She just had to do it.

Her hand hovered over his for a few seconds, gradually lowering till her fingertips brushed his. She'd hardly touched him when a flash of steel cut across her vision and the rough terrain and Scorpion's knees were digging into her sides and back.

Mileena didn't know whether to be chagrined or thrilled when she found herself pinned to the dirt, the sharp edge of his sword pressing up against her throat.

His eyes were narrowed dangerously in the dim light.

"What were you doing?"

"Nothing," she answered breathlessly. "Just checking something."

The sword cut into the fabric of her veil. "_What_?"

Mileena mouthed wordlessly for a few seconds, racking her brain for an answer. Granted, having him on top of her was a fulfillment of some of her wildest fantasies, but the increasing weight of the blade against her throat was putting a damper on her enjoyment. It was only when she felt his knees dig into her sides that it suddenly came to her.

"Your pants," she managed to utter, "what are they made out of?"

The look that came over his face—or what little she could see of it—was absolutely priceless.

"Is it leather?" she hazarded.

Scorpion suddenly rose to his feet with a growl of aggravation and stalked off.

Mileena quickly stood up and took a few steps after him.

"Don't be mad!" she called beseechingly. "I was just curious!"

Scorpion ignored her, stomping off in a fit of pique.

It boggled the mind to think how long she'd lasted as an assassin with such deranged behaviour. Sneaking up on him like that? Touching him? And admitting she'd done it for such an absurd reason?

The woman had a death wish.

He wound up putting several miles of distance between him and the campsite, needing time to calm down so he wouldn't immediately kill her when he got back.

Several hours later, he returned feeling slightly more relaxed, finding her asleep and wrapped up in the brown cloak beneath the tree. He stood there for a few seconds, watching her warily to make sure she wasn't faking.

Once he was assured she was really asleep, he walked back over to his spot by the fire, feeling mildly surprised by the sight of his whetstone set neatly on top of his seat. Pocketing it, he circled around the rock to sit down when he caught sight of something on the ground.

Canting his head, he peered down at what looked like a drawing in the dirt.

The sketch was rudimentary and childish in its execution, appearing as though it had been done with a stick. It was an extremely cartoonish version of him, looking peeved and standoffish. Beside him, Mileena had drawn herself happily latched onto his side in a hug.

Scorpion stared at it blankly.

After a while, he raised his head and looked towards the base of the tree.

She was still sleeping.

As he brought his foot up to the picture and began erasing it, Scorpion cast a dark look in her direction and came to a grim conclusion.

The conniving harpy was going to be the death of him.

Beneath the tree, Mileena drew the mantle over her face to muffle her giggles, glad she'd taken the time to leave a more permanent memento at the site before they left the next day.

The only downside, she discovered the next morning, was not thinking of a proper excuse for her laughter when Scorpion walked right past it, completely oblivious to the heart and the "M x S" carved into the tree.


End file.
